Global Kingdom worker: C. T. Studd
Role in The Mind of a Missionary: He appears in section one: Motivations, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ.
Dates: December 2, 1860—July 16, 1931
Location of missions work: China, India, Central Africa
Known for: C. T. Studd was a British cricketer and missionary, and one of the Cambridge Seven who pioneered new regions for the Gospel in China, India, and Central Africa.
Famous quotes: “Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”1
“Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”2
In The Mind of a Missionary, section one: Motivations, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ, you will be encouraged to find that obedience to the commands of Christ not only brings blessing to your life but changes the landscape of the world as well. You will also be amazed to find that today’s generation shares a surprising number of values that the Missionary Generation (1860-1882) had in their day. The Cambridge Seven inspired tens of thousands of people to follow their examples of radical obedience to the commands of Christ. They make up a small part of the great cloud of missionary witnesses of the past, and the baton has been bequeathed to succeeding generations. Now, it is your time to wholeheartedly pursue the heart of Christ and publicize His name both in your context and in the nations of the earth.
In the summer of 1883, a lone figure knelt to pray in his small study in the inner courtyard of a Chinese residence in Shanxi, China. Thirty-one-year-old Dr. Harold Schofield, a member of the China Inland Mission pioneered by Hudson Taylor, was the first Protestant missionary allowed to penetrate the interior of China. He prayed for “men of culture, education, and distinguished gifts, intellectual as well as spiritual”3 to come to the mission field.
One cannot underestimate the integral value of each member of the body of Christ. Some men and women played a visible role while others were seemingly tiny cogs in the missionary machine. Each one helped transform China’s landscape through their willing obedience to the commands of Christ.4
On March 18, 1885, The Cambridge Seven landed in Shanghai, China. The young men were met by China Inland Mission founder, Hudson Taylor, who had landed in China before their arrival to arrange for their travel inland at once.
In May, the seven men reached Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, and found themselves in the home of Dr. Harold Schofield. Nearly two years earlier, he had been called away from earthly service, and now they stood where his work had been laid down. They were the living answer to his many solitary prayers.
In the small study in Shanxi where Dr. Schofield prayed for men of influence to give themselves to the missionary cause, The Cambridge Seven now stood with China Inland Mission founder, Hudson Taylor. God’s providence was evident in this monumental moment. Elicited by the single thread of prayer, the initial weaves of a glorious tapestry had now commenced.
Common sense states that we ought to stay put; that we dare not venture into the insanity of obedience. But this kind of “common sense” might be better described as a “widely held misunderstanding” by the ignoble and ordinary.5
We are too easily captivated by the contemporary and so steeped in a myopic perspective of current events that we tend to overlook the overarching theme of God’s global vision. The present moment seduces us into a short-term narrative that separates our experience from the broader plot. We fail to see ourselves as an integral character in God’s grand drama.
Obedience is less of an aggrandizing accomplishment than it is a series of decisions to walk in the will of the Lord. Obedience is a succession of small, willful steps in pursuit of the Master’s footprints.6
In The Mind of a Missionary, section one: Motivations, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ you will see the divine sequence of events that led to one of the greatest missions breakthroughs in China. The obedience of a handful of men also sparked a spiritual awakening in the Western world. You will recognize that only by surrendering your life to the will of God will transformation occur.
When we are truly enamored by the goodness of God, willing obedience naturally follows. The true Christian finds deep joy in telling others about what God has done in her life.7
The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today by David Joannes
Books/resources referenced in chapter two of The Mind of a Missionary:
The Story of the China Inland Mission by M. Geraldine Guinness
The Cambridge Seven: The True Story of Ordinary Men Used in no Ordinary Way by John Charles Pollock
The Space Between Memories: Recollections from a 21st Century Missionary by David Joannes
10 Reasons Why Mission Matters in a Post Millennial World by Asian Roughrider
The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny by William Strauss and Neil Howe
Barna, Is Evangelism Going Out of Style?
- John Charles Pollock, The Cambridge Seven: The True Story of Ordinary Men Used in no Ordinary Way, London: InterVarsity Fellowship, 1956
- Norman P. Grubb, C. T. Studd: Athlete and Pioneer, page 196, 1933
- M. Geraldine Guinness, The Story of the China Inland Mission, second edition. 2 volumes, chapter XXIX, London: Morgan & Scott, 1894 God answered his prayers through C. T. Studd and the Cambridge Seven.
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter two: Obedience to the Commands of Christ
